The present invention relates to a corn picker.
Corn pickers of the initially described type are utilized as front attachments, for example, for combine harvesters, and are used to harvest corn plants and sunflower plants from the field, in which case the corn cobs and sunflower heads are picked and conveyed to the combine harvester, while the stalks and leaves remain on the field. Such corn pickers are equipped with at least two feed and snapping units, each of which comprises a snapping gap and an intake conveyor mechanism, and each being driven at the same operating speed by a drive shaft. The intake conveyor mechanism draws the plants into the snapping gap which is used to separate corn cobs and sunflower heads from the plants. The corn picker also comprises a chopping unit downstream of the particular intake conveyor mechanism for fragmentizing the stalks of the plants.
Document WO 2005/079555 A1 makes known such a corn picker, the feed and snapping units of which are driven jointly by a drive shaft extending across the width of the corn picker. Each of the feed and snapping units of the corn pickers is equipped with a chopping unit for fragmentizing the stalks remaining on the field, in order to accelerate the rotting thereof and simplify soil management. The chopping units are disposed downstream of the particular feed and snapping unit, and are operatively connected to the drive shaft. The feed and snapping units, and the chopping units thereof, are driven by the common drive shaft of the corn picker, and therefore any change in the operating speed at which the feed and snapping units are driven results in a change in the drive speed of the chopping units. As a result, in particular, a reduction in the operating speed or drive speed of the chopping units leads to negative chopping results and generates high torques in the drive train.